Like Sands Through the Hourglass

My whole life I've noticed that on certain free days one moment it'll be 10:30 in the morning and the next it's 5:00 in the afternoon. The whole day just flies by. It's not like I sleep the whole day. I keep busy, but suddenly the whole day is has been eaten up and the sun is setting.

Today, I kept looking at the clock and it felt like I was trying to keep water in my hands. It just kept leaking out and dripping down my arms and suddenly it was time to leave for my "evening obligation."

That's one of the things I really liked about having an office job - back when I had an office job. There was always someone bothering me, asking me if I had something done or giving me another assignment. I had structure - in the form of a loud, bossy narcissist. These days that I have to structure myself are sort of difficult. I have to decide what I have time for and what's the most important.

Today I read some short stories I want to submit somewhere and I had to fit that in with planning for my classes on Thursday and Friday, returning some emails and a short nap. Life is rough!

[Full disclosure: I've always enjoyed (and often found a way to get) a short afternoon nap and I feel like I operate best with one, so it's probably best for everyone that I get one when I need one. In fact, I've heard of companies/cultures where the afternoon nap is fully supported and it's structured into the day. Give me 10-15 minutes of sleep around 14:00 and I'm a new man.]

The idea of not having a 40-hour a week job used to scare me. I tried it in NYC when I had no idea where to begin. Now I've fallen into this teaching/training thing, which is certainly not 40-hours a week. And there are some other things I'd like to try to do. It's really opened up my options. Yes, Fred has a stable job and that's a huge safety net, but I feel like I can finally try something I've wanted to try for a while.

At the end of the day today, I got done what needed to get done. Maybe I was enjoying myself - no harm in that. And it takes time to do stuff. I think I just need to get up earlier.

Weather Update: I actually went to my class today not wearing gloves - on purpose. It turned out that I needed them, but it was do-able without them. I'll say it again - Spring is almost here.